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Material World
The Virgin of Guadalupe has many names and stories. So, too, does the elaborately decorated version of la Virgen made by María Gloria Moroyoqui for the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands program at the 1993 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Over the nearly five decades of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, participating artists have generously donated many of the objects they created while in Washington, D.C., to the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Imogene Kennedy, or Queenie as we called her, was a queen and tradition bearer of Kumina, a Congolese religion that established roots in Jamaica after Emancipation in the 1850s by indentured African laborers and continues today among certain Jamaican comm
“There’s a plan afoot to ship me a Maasai shield.” So ran one of my more delightfully unexpected Facebook posts in late June. Because—really—how often does one become the recipient of such a special package?
Folklife Magazine explores how culture shapes our lives. We publish stories about music, food, craft, language, celebrations, activism, and the individuals and communities who sustain these traditions.